


fly high, baby girl

by dames_for_jamesbarnes



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Protect Morgan Stark, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 08:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18961174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dames_for_jamesbarnes/pseuds/dames_for_jamesbarnes
Summary: “you wanna fly, huh?” he said, giving her a big smile, hand lifting to cup the side of her face.“likeyou, daddy,” she said with a grin, and her hands clapped together, pressing up on her toes. “higher and higher and higher!”





	fly high, baby girl

**Author's Note:**

> prompt fill on setrashtian.tumblr.com for "i love you three thousand."

“one, two, three!” tony cooed, letting out a ferocious groan as his back creaked with the lift. It took a lot to throw her up as he once did, but he would do anything to see morgan giggle like that, to see her eyes light up with joy as she hovered for a fleeting moment before crashing back down into her father’s arms. “she’s up, she’s flying, she’s still in the air!”

“higher, daddy, higher!” she screeched, and her shrieks echoed through the floor as tony squatted and lifted, squatted and lifted, each time feeling the wind leave him just a little bit more, until he was panting from the exertion. eventually setting her down for the last time so he could lean on the countertop. 

“okay, baby, we’re all done,” he huffed, hands lifted in surrender, and immediately her eyes got big.

“but _daddy_ ,” she whined, and something flashed before him – those eyes looking up at him with such reverence, such adoration, filling his heart with something he’d never even dreamed of before. “again?”

because his back ached. it was crying out even as he moved to the counter to take another drink of his smoothie. it was hard to even take a breath, let alone suck down some nutrients in the moments of reprieve he had. but the way that morgan looked at him, staring up from the ground, her lower lip quivering… it was like he could go on for an eternity more.

with an exaggerated motion, his smoothie moved to the counter once more, and his finger began tapping his chin as he let out a hum of consideration. his knees protested this time, as he squatted down to meet her, eye to eye.

“you wanna fly, huh?” he said, giving her a big smile, hand lifting to cup the side of her face.

“like _you_ , daddy,” she said with a grin, and her hands clapped together, pressing up on her toes. “higher and higher and higher!”

another image – daddy’s little girl, all grown up, flying around in a suit of armor. protecting the world like her father. yet another future, one of the fourteen million strange promised him, where she ruled the world like her mother, firm and powerful and just as bright. it was there and it was gone again, and little morgan stood before him, brow beginning to furrow because daddy was getting quiet again. contemplative, as pep would say.

“baby,” tony whispered, and his other hand joined the first, holding his entire world in his palms, voice breaking a little. “you’re gonna fly as high as you want. and no one’s gonna stop you, okay?”

another little furrow of the brow, and tony wanted to grin at the sight. the focus was unbeatable. any problem could be solved with that kind of solemnity. he let one of his hands wander up to push back her hair, his fingers, a little worn and twisted, getting caught in the strands for a moment.

“if i’m flying,” she said after a moment, tilting her head a bit, enough that tony’s heart broke and melted in the same instant, “you’ll be there, too. right, daddy?”

a pause. his own brow furrowed, and her daddy’s eyes got a little sad, a little distant, before coming back to focus on her.

“always,” he whispered, and his lips pressed her forehead, in a silent prayer of protection. “right there next to you. no matter where you go.”

and the furrow was gone. kissed away, and her grin came back, a little dimple showing. a grin matched only by tony’s own.

“let’s fly again, daddy!” she said with a grin, hands lifting in the air in little fists of unbridled joy.

“why don’t we go pick out a story for bedtime, huh?” he offered instead, and decided to compromise by lifting her, once more with a little groan. “and we can do more flying tomorrow, if that works for you, sweet pea.”

the steps creaked beneath tony’s feet, carrying her up and up and up, higher and higher and higher.

“okay, daddy. i love you lots.”

“that so? well… i love you lots and lots!”

hands pushed open her door, little and big working side by side.

“i love you more!” she giggled as he tickled her sides, causing her laugher to fill the spaces that lingered in the shadows, making them warm with lamplight.

“ah, but i love you most. i’ve got you now, morgan stark, there’s nothing more than most!”

“i love you three thousand!”

and there it was. the final blow, the winning hand, the hit that had his hand over his heart, cheeks stretched with a smile as he sat on the bed. his little girl in his lap. his world safe and sound.

“three thousand, baby. three thousand.”


End file.
